CON: Lionsgate 1/2

Everybody remembers their first time. Whether it's your first time at The Con or eating out
of a dumpster, first time experiences are always memorable. Saying that, the Lionsgate panel started out
like the first time I had sex: with a line around the block. Inside Hall H, loads of young
teenage boys and girls were waiting in anticipation for the stars of the first flick to be
previewed, which were Jessica Alba and Dane Cook for GOOD LUCK CHUCK.

Clips: The first clip shown involved Jessica Alba and Dane Cook in seperate
bathtubs, talking to each other on the phone. Because they can't have sex, Jessica starts in
on the ol' phone sex talk, with Dane Cook pretending not to care (a feat in itself). The clip
ends when Jessica asks Dane if he can view pictures on his phone, and then proceeds to send a
picture of her naughty bits. No, we didn't get a chance to see the pic she sent either. Bah.
The clip really didn't do much but make all of the males in the crowd shift around in their
seats due to the sudsy, bubble clad Jessica Alba. And I'm sure that's the intention. The
next clip we were shown was just a small montage of all the physical gags in the flick. A
slip here, a fall there.

Nothing amazing, unless you've really been wanting to see Jessica Alba walk into a pole. Har
har. Overall, the clips and trailer that were shown were pretty standard romantic comedy
fair, nothing spectacular. Jessica Alba and Dane Cook seem to have good on and off screen
chemistry, which bugs me to no end. Here's some other shite about the flick that I
learned:

In the movie, there's a montage of Dane Cook banging up to 30 women.

Jessica Alba chipped her front tooth during a kissing scene with Dane Cook.

Director reshot Jessica Alba walking into a pole over 30 times.

Jessica Alba talked about her new horror movie THE EYE, in which she plays a blind
violinist.

The film was shot in 35 days.

Opens September 21st.

VIDEO
INTERVIEW w/ Jessica Alba & Dane Cook

3:10 TO YUMA

Participants:
Ben Foster
Peter Fonda

Next up to bat was 3:10 TO YUMA, a western originally written as a novel by the great Elmore
Leonard. Half the audience left at this point after the departure of Jessica Alba and Dane
Cook. The film stars Russell Crowe, Christian Bale and Ben Foster, who was the only one in
attendance. With Crowe and Bale starring in a western by Elmore Leonard, there's not much
left to sell me on. Here's a quick synopsis of the plot: In Arizona in the late 1800's,
infamous outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued
the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans (Christian Bale),
struggling to survive on his drought-plagued ranch, volunteers to deliver him alive to the
"3:10 to Yuma", a train that will take the killer to trial.

Clips: Wade's gang is extracting some information on where to find their boss from
a guy trapped in a stagecoach. That's on fire. Ben Foster, who's doing the interrogating,
finally gets what he wants from the guy and walks away, leaving the man to be burned alive.
Pretty intense. The second clip shown was a big gun fight involving Peter Fonda, Russell
Crowe and Ben Foster. The shootout looked awesome with a lot of slam cuts and fast
transitions.

If you couldn't tell already, I was really stoked with what I saw and can't wait to see it.
The clips I saw had a great, frenetic style to it for a western. Here's some other things I
managed to pull out of the panel.

When asked about shooting a western, Ben Foster said, "I'm a bad guy who goes on a killing
spree to save Russell Crowe, so it was fun!"

The actors all stayed at a ranch that was occupied by painter Georgia O'Keefe.

Foster was very uneasy when talking about the ranch, saying the ranch was haunted and
claiming to have "seen things".

Midway through the panel, Peter Fonda showed up and said, "Don't buy plastic water
bottles, it kills the environment."

Peter Fonda is an avid gun collector and has attained the level of "marksman". He also
helped a lot of the actors out on shooting and handling the pistolas.

The film takes place during a drought, but the desert they were shooting in had a massive
snowstorm. Over 40 million tons (though they may be exaggerating) of dirt had to be piled on
top of the snow to cover it.

The shoot took 42 days, but Foster said it was more like 40 minutes, since all they did
was wait.